Operation System Not Found

Still in warranty?

go to Dell Website, research the model and exchange if possible. Is it plugged in or running of the battery? Mine overheats and finally ran out my battery, so I took the battery out and just run it of the power line at home...however i assume you take it with you, so why mess around, get another one...my suggestion...

NJCurmudgeon,

Did you run the full diagnostics?

Any error messages?

Rick

Hi Pudgyone! I haven't had a chance - she's using it for work at the moment, But I should be able to today and will post the result. Thanks.

NJCurmudgeon,

Try running the full diagnostics and report back any error messages. How to Run the Dell™ Diagnostics Utility

Rick

Yes, it is in warranty, but we're curious if there was a simple fix we could do at our end before going through the inconvenience of an exchange or repair. And yes, she's running it off the power line at home when the problems occur.

Curiously, when she rebooted, she did not get the error message and the fan has returned to normal. We'll see if there is a pattern. If there is, perhaps that's a clue that it has to do with the sleep/hibernation states.

Thanks.

Okay - I was able to run the diagnostic test. Everything passed. A couple of statistics:

- The battery charge was 100% across the board (Current, High, Low)

- The battery health was 99% across

- Processor fan (which ran the whole test) had a high of 5490 RPM and a low of 3200

- CPU thermistor high of 88 degrees C and a low of 66

- Ambient thermistor high 69, low 49

- Video thermistor high 70, low 49

NJCurmudgeon,

I'm really not sure why you're getting Operating system not found. The full diagnostics tells if there is a hardware problem. I should say that it maybe a possible software problem.

Rick

Is there a diagnostic that would tell us if it's a software problem?

Thanks!

Ha! Too true!

So considering the error message, could it be a problem with the Windows 7 installation? Is there a way of checking that?

Thanks!

NJCurmudgeon,

There is only a diagnostic for hardware. If there was a program for software, the program would run a very long time, since new software comes out everyday.

Rick

Before you do anything rash do you have an external hard disk hooked up when this happens?

NJCurmudgeon,

Hardware checks, then it's an installation problem.

Easiest method is...

Restoring Your Computer´s Software to the Factory Settings

Manual method is...

How To Restore or Reinstall Microsoft® Windows® on a Dell™ Computer

Rick

We did an experiment. When there is no external hard drive hooked up, the laptop starts normally, both after being shut down completely and woken up from sleep mode. When the external drive is plugged in, the error message appears. So that does indeed seem to be a clue. I haven't heard the fan running excessively after rebooting, but I also know from reviews that the fan can be particularly loud on that model under normal running.

Thanks!

NJCurmudgeon.

Jim C, Thanks, I forgot about an attached device.

Restart the computer and press F2 at the Dell Screen. Look for boot sequence. Make it...

CD/DVD Rom

HDD Hard Drive

USB Removable devices

Network

Save changes and exit.

When you start the computer with the hard drive attached, it should boot for cd/dvd first then hard drive. It will no longer look for the usb attached devices.

Rick